​Dr. Valerie Correa had a vision of creating a healing retreat for cancer survivors and their families while working in private practice as a Clinical Psychologist and Marital and Family Therapist. She felt moved by hearing stories from her clients who had survived cancer but now were struggling with the aftermath of cancer.  Many of her clients, post remission, suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Phobias, and Suicidal Ideation. These mental health challenges surfaced with stressors such as losing their marriages, friendships, work positions, homes, fertility, sexual function and facing bankruptcy and their children’s behavioral problems due to family stress. 

 

Little did she know at the time she conceived this idea for a survivor retreat center, that a few months later, she would be diagnosed with AML-Acute Myeloid Leukemia in September, 2013; in March, 2014, she relapsed with Leukemia Cutis. After being hospitalized for mostly a year with only a few weeks in between, her only hope was a stem cell transplant on August 2014 from an unknown stem cell donor from Germany (see Be the Match link above). This challenging experience motivated her even more to help cancer survivors have a sanctuary to process their feelings relating to their cancer experience.

 

Dr. Valerie Correa is thrilled to see this dream become a reality with a skilled and compassionate team making it happen. She feels it is important to foster wellness to help transform pain and grief into resiliency for survivors and their families. It is her life’s mission to make your time at Sunrise Daisy Retreat a valuable experience and have every cancer survivor and their caregivers attend free of charge. It is powerful for our team to know how restorative this place is for internal healing.